Ahhhhh... That thread again laugh

At that age I was reading everything mythology related. The gore content in the Illyad and Odyssey is fairly high but lack of life experience is actually protective (or it was for me -- YMMMV). After the Greek/Roman myths I walked my way through a whole series of collected tales for different countries/cultures the world over.

Originally Posted by Dude
I don't agree with the Discworld series for a kid that young, though. I think they're fantastic, but I think that too much of the humor would sail over the heads of 7yos, due to lack of exposure to social and scientific concepts.


I disagree about that disagreement. First because there are several strands of books in that series, and some (the Tiffany Aching sub-series?) would be more age appropriate than others. Note that the oldest books (The Color of Magic and the next ones) are the weakest.

Second because one of the joys of my life is to pick up a book I read and loved as a child ten years later and discover a whole new layer of meaning and enjoyment within its pages. Much better than picking up a childhood favorite and discovering it is twaddle, or, worse, incredibly sexist/racist/whatever. And the best of books will keep giving as you re-read them every 10 years or so.

I concur with kcab on the big NO on The Handmaiden Tale, which is dystopian future set in a theocracy where the main protagonist is one of many slave women kept to be repeatedly raped by the master of the house and any resulting offspring taken away. Very adult themes, and I am not sure it can be read as an adventure of resistance and escape beyond the political message.

OTOH I find the *idea* behind The Hunger Games pretty horrifying and have avoided reading them for that reason, when I would probably have loved then at 10-12. Ditto Lowry's The Giving (cannot understand how this can be sold as youth literature, but maybe watching colicky infants euthanized is only horrifying to young/new parents? I read it at a time when my oldest was keeping me up all night...).

Lack of life experience can be protective at that age -- I found 1984 very boring when I read it as a pre-teen, I am sure the horror factor would be higher now.

+1 Diana Wynne Jones.

Fantasy with large scale realistic world building... You can scratch The Game of Thrones from your list wink. Has she read the YA classics? Tamora Pierce?